Kingdom Hearts: Crossroads of Destiny
by kaosfanatic
Summary: Sora has ventured out alone, again. None of his friends know where he went. So, when things go awry and he ends up in a new dimension, who is there to help him? Nobody. At least, until he gains a new companion. Now he must help cleanse the dimension of darkness so that he may return home. Rated M for violence and language.
1. Chapter 1: A New Life

_A/N: Well, here's the first chapter, I guess. As of right now, I have no major plans for this. I just had this idea and had to get it out of my head. If enough people want more, I'll continue it, but not right away. I'd have to start WAAAY at the beginning for it to make sense. Really, I need some time to get Sora to this point._

 _Anyways, as you're reading this, have the playlist that is in my bio open in another tab, and just let it play. I tried to pace this so that it's just right, but not everyone reads at the same rate. Hopefully, you'll find it close enough to make the chapter feel more alive._

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Kingdom Hearts: Crossroads of Destiny

Chapter One: A New Life

 _Okay. Why am I not dead?_

That was Sora's first thought as he opened his eyes. A new world laid before his eyes—one that looked abandoned. Hundreds of rusted-out car husks were lined up on a ruined road, stretching as far as he could see. It seemed to be midday, the sun shining off of the small patches of snow that dotted the landscape between the sparse vegetation. In the distance, there was a wall, possibly a couple hundred feet high and outlining the horizon with a thick, dark stroke.

 _Well_ that's _inviting._

While he waited for his mind to clear, the events that preceded his arrival returned to him. He had been flying on his Keyblade glider, armor protecting him from the darkness of space. He had been approaching a warphole with the intent to travel through it. As he neared it, however, his glider vanished. He was pulled into the warphole with no control whatsoever, and he ended up directly on a new world. Well, not on, per se. He was in atmosphere, falling to the surface, decked out in his armor, and with no method of slowing his descent.

In short, he was boned.

As he fell, the minutes passing him by, he thought about his life. He regretted not making his feelings for his auburn-haired friend known. He regretted leaving on his own instead of traveling with his friends in a ship. Most of all, he regretted never learning parkour, as that might have given him a slight chance of survival. Sora grimaced as the ground rushed to meet him. He really hoped that his death wasn't painful—dead on impact would be quite preferable to suffering with a broken body, simply waiting to pass on.

 _Time's up,_ he thought, a mere moment before impact. He crashed into the cold, hard dirt, going from terminal velocity to zero in the blink of an eye.

The world went black.

Waking up after such a fall, while not impossible, is so improbable that it boggles the mind and raises a multitude of questions. This situation is exactly where Sora found himself now, his mind filled with those questions. Why was he not dead? Even more, why was he uninjured? Most importantly, why was there a floating eyeball hovering in front of him?

Also, was it _talking_ to him?

"It worked!" exclaimed the eyeball.

 _Am I dreaming? I'd have to be alive to be dreaming, wouldn't I? If I am alive, then this could actually be happening, but there is no way I survived that fall. Maybe I'm in the afterlife, and my guide around the afterlife is this...floating eyeball. That makes sense, I guess..._

"You don't know how long I've been looking for you," it continued.

 _Well, I think I've just died, so probably not long._

"I'm a Ghost. Actually, now I'm _your_ ghost. And you...well, you're obviously not from this world, so I've got a lot to explain."

 _It's official, I am dead. Apparently my spirit turned into this thing and is prepared to haunt this...wasteland of cars? Wait, did it say 'not from this world?'_

"I sense that you are confused. I brought you back to life. You were terribly injured, but at least you hadn't decomposed yet. I was here within minutes of you crashing. I've never heard of a Ghost reviving their partner so soon after death..."

 _So I_ was _dead. And_ this _thing brought me back to life. And there are_ more _undead people in this world._

 _Where the_ hell _am I!?_

As he thought this, he heard a roar in the distance, and the very sound of it raised the hairs on his neck.

"The rest of the explanation will have to wait or the Fallen might find us. We need to get you inside. Now hold on." As it said this, it floated closer to him before dissolving before his very eyes. Sora looked around in confusion, and a bit of fright. He didn't know this Ghost, but it was the only source of information so far, and possibly the only reason he was alive right now. Better to trust it for now, and question it later.

"Don't worry, I'm still with you. We need to move, fast."

 _Guess it's inside of my mind now, or something._

As Sora began moving, the Ghost continued to talk to him. "We need to get you to the Tower. You probably have no end of questions, and the Speaker and the Vanguard will be able to answer them," it explained. A floating, transparent diamond appeared in his vision. "Head that way."

 _Yeah, definitely in my head._

He made his way toward the marker, unease towards whatever made that noise fueling his run. He ran for what felt like an hour, the wall in the distance growing and looming ever closer. Finally, he reached the base of the wall, a large opening being the apparent destination indicated by his waypoint. Sora heeded the Ghost's urging to enter through the doorway, finding rusty, steel stairs and suspended walkways. The darkness in this place was almost sickening, his light being attacked at the edges by it. An odd shape appeared in the corner of his vision, completely in focus, leading him to believe that he wasn't seeing it with his eyes, but that it was being pushed into his vision center directly. There was a circle in the middle, and it was surrounded by two tiers of 8 sections each. The top-most section had its outer edge lined in red, though as he turned his head, the red shifted to other sections.

"I just gave you a motion tracker. The red on it indicates that there are enemies in that direction. Bright red means they are roughly on the same level as you, while faded red means they aren't. No idea how many enemies there are though. It could be one, it could be a dozen."

 _Well, it is more useful than it isn't, so thanks._

Sora continued into the wall, hearing noises that sounded as if there was something crawling through the walls. The noises, in combination with the tight quarters, which made him think of a maintenance area, were making him very nervous. His teeth were on edge and his heart was pounding in his ears so loudly, it felt like the Fallen would hear him. Eventually, he passed through the outer section of the wall and entered a large, empty area. The lights in this area were already working, the Ghost explaining that someone called a Guardian had already passed through, thinning out the Fallen and activating the lights.

"He didn't pass through this precise area, however, so you should still expect resistance. Speaking of, you need a weapon."

 _Guess I should get my Keyblade out,_ he thought. That didn't go as well as he had hoped. Try as he might, he could not summon it; he could not call it to his hand.

"I can feel you trying something. I don't know what it is, but it seems to be blocked by a powerful force."

"That's just fucking perfect!" Sora yelled.

"So you _can_ talk."

"Of course I can talk. There just hasn't been a reason to yet. But this is just great. I can't summon my weapon, and I am stuck on this world with no apparent way out, surrounded by an unknown enemy, and am being led around by a floating eyeball."

"I'm a Ghost, actually."

"Alright, fine. A Ghost. That doesn't mean anything to me, so forgive me if I am not blindly accepting what you say."

After this, the Ghost remained silent, obviously not having a response. It knew as little about this person as he knew about it. Instead, it directed Sora to move further into the wall while scanning the environment for any weaponry. After passing through more and more empty corridors, it finally picked something up on its scans—a rifle. The Ghost indicated it to Sora with a small outline in gold. Sora picked it up nervously, not used to using a firearm. Sure, he'd _used_ one before, but that was in a controlled setting, firing at paper targets. Using it in combat was a whole 'nother ballgame.

He examined his new weapon, inspecting it for damage. The holographic sight mounted on top was cracked, but still functional. There were rust spots, but nothing impacting the firing mechanism. A full magazine was loaded, so Sora pulled the arming mechanism, chambering a round. Looking in the nearby containers, he located two spare magazines.

 _I hope that's enough to get out of here._

As he picked them up, however, they evaporated. He was stunned, and almost felt like crying—he might have needed those to survive. His fears were unfounded, however, when the Ghost chimed in, "Don't worry, I'm just dismantling them until you need them." He breathed a sigh of relief.

They proceeded further into the wall. Sora hadn't caught sight of any Fallen yet, but he could've sworn that he saw something bipedal every time he turned a corner. The red on his motion tracker never strayed from the outline section, but the direction it pointed reinforced his paranoia. One last turn, and he was greeted by darkness. There were no other turns he could take, and the Ghost in his mind told him that this was the only way, but warned him "the Fallen thrive in the dark, we won't," before appearing above his shoulder and shining a beam of light out of its eye. The light brightened the corridor, but it also brightened the figures that were just hiding in the darkness.

"Fallen! Find some cover."

Sora looked around quickly, finding some old containers that were roughly chest-height. He ran to one, and crouched behind it, placing its protective barrier between himself and the strange beings. He leaned out, trying to catch a glimpse of the enemies again, and he was quickly on the receiving end of what looked like a blue laser. His armor blocked most of it, but the heat still singed his shoulder.

"Shield. Wrap yourself in light, just outside of your armor. It'll keep you from getting hurt until it runs out."

Sora did just that, feeling a slight drain on his strength before it leveled out.

"I'll explain more later, just know that your shield can only take so much damage, and will recharge when you avoid damage for a time."

 _Huh, feels like I'm in a game of Halo._

He leaned out again, taking another blast of energy to his shoulder, but it did not hurt this time. He leveled his weapon, taking careful aim at the glowing points that were the Fallen's eyes, the only visible part of them. He squeezed the trigger. Immediately, bullets started streaming out of his gun, the flash illuminating the corridor. He heard a sound like air escaping, followed by a thud. Another question to ask later. He continued picking off the Fallen, killing a total of five before he could advance. The idea of killing made his stomach clench, but he had to if he ever wanted to leave this place alive. Kill or be killed. He knew that, he just didn't like it.

Finally, the sounds of combat died down. He ejected his nearly spent magazine. It evaporated from his hand and was replaced by a completely full one, which he slid into place. Sora moved out of cover, trying to get a closer look at the enemies whose lives he had just stolen. He confirmed that they were bipedal. These ones were vaguely humanoid. Two arms, two legs. However, they had four eyes, and were rather scaly looking.

"Dregs. The lowest caste in Fallen society. Most Fallen, or Eliksni in their tongue, have four arms, but Dregs have theirs removed and the places that they connect are docked, preventing regrowth. They have to prove themselves to have the docking caps removed."

"Interesting. Let's keep going."

Sora moved on, but what he just did finally caught up with him. He bent over, bracing himself with one arm on the wall, pulling his helmet off with his other. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't feel anything other than horror at what he had just done. Enemy, alien, monster or not, he had never taken a life. Heartless didn't die, they were purified. Nobodies just vanished, their essence awaiting the heart so they can be remade into their whole person.

"You can talk to me if you need to," the Ghost said quietly. "You are young. You probably haven't had to fight for your life like that before. I may not be able to fix your problems, but until we get to the Tower, I'm all that's available."

"It's just—I can't—how do people live with themselves? I know that I would have died otherwise, but still..." He gulped. "What do I do?"

"You press on. Deep down, you know that you did not have a choice. Keep it in mind, as this is only the beginning. Don't worry. It may not be a comforting fact, but it does get easier."

 _Definitely not comforting. Still, I guess he has a point. He? Eh, may as well be, he sounds male._

Sora took the Ghost's advice and pressed on, pushing through more Fallen before finally crossing the vast chasm in the wall. The bridge, of course, was guarded. For the first time, he met something other than Dregs. Vandals, the Ghost called them, and they were tougher. Most seemed to use a weapon that launched a slow moving, but homing, blast of energy. One that he ran across used a high-powered energy rifle that stung even through the shield. Still, he managed to break through, leaving a trail of Fallen corpses behind him.

"You are running low on ammunition," the Ghost said abruptly. "Look."

A readout appeared in another corner of his vision, showing what looked like an outline of his weapon and two numbers. One read "13", and the other was "0". He quickly deduced that he had thirteen rounds in his current magazine, with zero in reserve.

"Look on the ground near the dead. Sometimes, they will drop ammunition. They may not use the same type of weaponry, but I can transform the material into bullets for your gun."

Sora look around and saw small, white boxes. When he made contact with one, it vanished, and the the "0" changed into a "90." Knowing that he had more ammunition gave him some more confidence. He searched for some more, listening to the Ghost talk about different types of ammunition: white boxes were suitable for small arms, green for more powerful weaponry such as shotguns, and the large purple blocks contained the proper material to make heavy ammunition.

When he reached the other side of the bridge, he found what looked like a chest made of an old fluid tank. He opened it, and the contents seemed to be glowing, blue cubes. As he touched them, however, they dissolved.

"That was Glimmer. Glimmer is both a currency and a raw material. We use it in the Tower to make everything from weapons and armor to transportation. There was also a data blueprint in there and the materials needed for it."

As the Ghost finished speaking, Sora felt a weight appear on his back. Reaching back, he felt another gun. Swapping it with his rifle, he found himself holding a shotgun.

"How?"

"As a Ghost, I am responsible for maintaining your equipment. Since I can't actually _hold_ anything, I can break things down into data, and then reconstruct it using Light. There's more, but I'll explain when you need to know."

 _What a strange world._

Sora pressed on, keeping the shotgun prepared, as the corridors were getting narrower, and the turns coming quicker. He was glad he did, as the next time he turned the corner, a Vandal dropped down, holding a small sword in each of its four hands. It charged him, winding up to slice him with his two right swords. Sora braced the shotgun against his shoulder, and fired. The kick of the shotgun sent the barrel skyward, but the blast landed on point, decimating the Vandal. Continuing past the harrowing encounter, he entered a larger room, filled with Fallen. Switching out his shotgun for his rifle, he quickly prepared for a fight.

Aiming carefully, he fired, catching the first two by surprise, but then the rest opened fire on him. He took a few hits before reaching cover, the last one stinging slightly.

"Careful, your shields are down. I am going to add a shield monitor to accompany your motion tracker."

As expected, a bar appeared near the top of his vision. There were four segments to it, the rightmost three of which were empty, and the leftmost was red. As he watched, the the empty bars began to fill, fully filling in about three seconds.

He reengaged the enemy, taking out two in quick succession. He dodged away from his current cover, aiming his movement for a pillar roughly twenty feet away. He saw a vandal take cover on the other side of said pillar, so Sora swapped weapons, readying his shotgun. When he reached the pillar he ducked around it and blasted the vandal in the back. The force of the projectiles launched the six-limbed alien into the center of the room. He got back behind the pillar, just in time as streams of energy launched past him. Leaving his cover on the side he _initially_ entered it, he readied his rifle again. Another three dregs fell dead before him. Now, only three Fallen remained, all vandals, and all using swords. Switching to his shotgun, he closed the distance carefully, and blasted the rest of the enemies to death.

"Good work. I think we're almost out of this."

 _I hope so. This is getting ridiculous._

"You know, I don't think that Guardian had to travel as far through the wall. We must have gotten quite unlucky."

Sora rolled his eyes, but otherwise did not respond. He gave the pathway his full attention, fully expecting to be ambushed again, but it didn't happen. At the end of the corridor he was in, he could see light, and it didn't appear to be artificial in origin. The sight led him to quicken his pace, suddenly feeling claustrophobic after what felt like hours of close quarters. His suspicions were correct, and he quickly found himself outside again. The chilled wind buffeted him, his armor becoming cold very quickly. He inhaled the fresh air, filling his lungs and expelling the last of the stale air from the wall. Refreshed, he let his eyes roam over the landscape.

His jaw dropped.

Dotted throughout the landscape were towers of balls, as well as warehouses and other facilities, for which he did not know the uses. Also apparent, however, were dropships that looked like strange dragonflies. There were a handful of them in sight of his current location; one, however, was quite close. In fact, it was close enough to notice him and aim its turret.

"I'd recommend moving. That skiff's arc turret is no joke."

"Good idea."

Sora ran towards the nearest cover he could find, which turned out to be the remains of a centuries-old tank. He peaked his head out, taking in the situation. The skiff, as the Ghost had called it, was hovering about thirty feet above the ground. The hold in the 'thorax' of the dragonfly shaped aircraft opened and suspension seats dropped down, followed by a group of Fallen. He counted six dregs, two vandals, and four red, floating machines that he hadn't seen before.

"Those are shanks. They fire quickly and with decent accuracy, but their attacks are fairly weak. Watch out for them flanking you, though."

"Thanks for the heads up. Guess I'll take them out first."

He shouldered his rifle, aiming at the closest of the shanks. He pulled the trigger. A trio of shots blasted out of the muzzle, streaking towards the shank. All three ended in solid impacts on the chassis of the floating machine. It went down, its power lost, before exploding on the ground. The rest of the Fallen opened fire on him at the same time. Streams or energy traveled at various speeds towards him. He took a few hits, but fired at the shanks three more times, taking down the rest of them before retreating behind his cover again. He glanced at his shield, noting that it was depleted, and his body actually taking damage.

 _I should be more careful._

He waited for his shield of light to recharge. When they were full again, he ducked out again, this time fully stepping out. He danced to his right, away from the tank while firing his weapon. Two dregs dropped dead. He dipped and dodged around the energy streams, trying to keep his foes from surrounding him. An endless stream of bullets left his gun, downing three more fallen. One vandal and two dregs were all that remained. He ducked down behind a concrete barrier, his shields once again critical. Finally, he leaped over the barrier, surprising the remaining aliens, and quickly gunned them down with his shotgun.

When the last dreg dropped dead, he was suddenly assaulted by a rush of energy. His shield, which had been dropped to half, was instantly filled. A new icon appeared in his vision, next to his weapon readout. It was a square with a pictogram of a cloud in the middle of it.

"What just happened?" he asked the Ghost.

"The enemies that you will face here all consume Light in some way, whether it be something that they eat or a source of power. When you defeat them, this Light disperses. I gather this dispersed Light, and when I have enough, I use it to reinvigorate you as well as grant you new abilities. The more Light I gather and pump into you, the more you attune to it, which means that you can use it in new ways. You seem to be more oriented with Arc Light naturally, so your first abilities will be Arc related."

This mostly went over Sora's head. What he _did_ gather was that he essentially leveled up. He thought about it some more, trying to gather his thoughts.

"First question: what is Arc Light?"

"Light is divided into three different types: Solar, Arc, and Void, which each correspond to a trait of a star. Solar is fire and heat, Arc is electricity and electromagnetic fields, and Void is gravity. You are naturally aligned to Arc."

"Alright. Second question: how do I use these abilities?"

"Channel your light into your left hand."

Sora concentrated on the familiar feeling of his Light. At least, he tried to. Strangely, his Light felt different. Simply touching it raised the hairs on his arms. It filled him with energy, and left his heart hammering. He tried gathering it into his hand, as the Ghost suggested. A trickle of power left him, accumulating in his hand. _Now, give it form._ He focused it, concentrated it, and a solid object appeared. The new object was shaped like a grenade. He threw it into the open area near him. Soon after, a bolt of lightning struck from a storm cloud that suddenly appeared, floating ten feet above the ground. Where the bolt struck, lesser bolts shot out parallel to the ground. The clap of thunder accompanying it nearly deafened him, so he dubbed the new ability: Thunder Grenade.

He noticed that the icon that signified the ability became transparent before slowly filling up again from the bottom. When he tried to use the grenade again, he felt like he was trying to drink from an empty glass: there was nothing there.

"Yeah, you won't be able to use it repeatedly. I have to gather some ambient Light to recharge it. There are ways to speed it up, however. You just need to find gear that makes it easier for me to do my job. Though, you _are_ a special case—guardians don't have such advanced armor immediately after revival. I think I can modify your armor and imbue the abilities of gear you acquire, but the effect won't stack. Still, you'll be on the same level as the Guardians."

"You keep mentioning them. What _are_ Guardians?"

"There is so much I have to explain. Tell you what, keep moving so we can find transport to the Tower. I'll explain while we're flying there. Deal?"

"Deal. So, which way should I go?"

Instead of answering vocally, the Ghost put a new waypoint into Sora's vision. He set off, moving quickly but staying wary—enemies could be hiding anywhere. Despite the ancient-looking building, the terrain here was as desolate and lifeless as that outside the wall. In fact, the appearance of the war-ravaged buildings made it seem even more forbidding. He found himself tightly clenching his rifle, the unease putting him on edge. He forced himself to relax. At least he was outside, so he didn't feel claustrophobic.

 _I have a feeling that this won't last long._

As if reading his thoughts, the universe confirmed his suspicions. He crested a small hill and saw that the waypoint led him back inside. The building looked large, as if it were meant for working on equipment. He entered through an open garage door, the door itself resting upon a destroyed vehicle—a truck of some kind. He wasn't too familiar with vehicles, having come from a small world with few roads, and the worlds he visited seeming to be pre-industrial, for the most part. It was just a larger vehicle, with a cab that was taller than the rest.

Inside, he found a similar situation as the wall: rusty stairs and walkways. This time, however, the walkways weren't suspended. They rested on their support just a foot or so above ground level. His motion tracker was clear, for the moment, so he moved quickly, trying to find whatever the Ghost was leading him towards.

The seeming abandonment of this place made him nervous. Fallen should have been all over, so where were they?

The corridor ended quickly, expanding to show a room with old computer equipment. Nothing worked anymore, of course. He was astounded by the amount of technology that had gone to waste, and confounded by the idea of something that took this much equipment to run properly, especially since this probably wasn't the only room of its like in the area.

He left the room through a door on the opposite wall from where he came in. Another short corridor later and there was an even larger...room? If he could call it that. There was no roof. The open sky appeared above him, stars beginning to appear as the sun set, out of sight. In the middle of the room, in a tangled heap, was some type of aircraft. The fuselage was a giant mess of rusting metal, and parts were strewn about the room, as if something had scavenged the wreck for anything useful.

"There we are."

"This? We were looking for a wreck? What good will this do us?"

"None in its current state. I'll need a few minutes, but I can fix it. I just need to scan it and reconstruct it from the parts. It'll be just fine when I'm done, barring any missing parts..." he trailed off.

"Alright, so I just have to wait, and probably defend you if my motion tracker is any indication," he growled, noticing that there was red all around him. "Great."

"I'll be fine for the most part. Their weapons won't be able to harm me, but if they grab hold of me, they can absorb my light and kill me. So, just focus on not dying. I won't be able to help you actively while I'm doing this."

Sora glanced around the room, looking for a defensible spot. He found a small room in the corner, probably for observation personnel in the past. Waist-high walls lined it, with wide open windows. A thick column made up the outward corner, and there was a standard-sized door near each wall of the main room. He took cover behind the low wall, waiting for the enemies he was detecting to get closer.

He didn't have to wait long. He looked out at the intruders, and cursed the inaccuracy of the tracker. " _There could be one, or there could be_ _a dozen,"_ echoed through his mind.

 _Maybe even two dozen,_ he thought. Still, they were mostly dregs, a few vandals and a handful of shanks thrown in. They were also bunched up. _Guess I get to try out my new toy._

Sora gathered his light in his left hand and let loose. The grenade landed on the near edge of the crowd of enemies. Some of the smarter ones were able to dive away far enough to evade damage, but the resulting lightning bolt fried ten, and probably hurt a few more. His job made much more manageable, he opened fire on the survivors.

His first shots found a home in the heads of a dreg. Its head burst and a mist escaped. Three of its brethren followed soon after.

The surprise faded, and Sora no longer had the upper hand.

The rest fired their weapons at him, their glowing blue projectiles streaming towards him. He moved back into cover. He heard a noise that sounded like a combination of a match being struck and a sparkler being lit, followed by something that looked like a spiked club landed a few feet from him, glowing with Arc energy. It seemed to gain power, then pulsed and exploded in a torrent. Having figured that it was probably a grenade of some sort, Sora dove out of the way a moment before it detonated. Now, he was out of cover, and a follow-up grenade ensured that he could not go back to where he had been. Instead, he took cover behind one of the half-dozen pillars that were around the edges of the room.

Once again, he took aim and fired. Two vandals lost their heads, and a shank fell to the ground. Only seven left, now. He glanced at his grenade indicator, and was relieved to find that it was charged. Summoning the ordnance into his hand, he tossed it at four enemies who were close together. They were toast. The remaining three had ducked down, not close enough to be killed by the device, but still near enough to be hurt. While they were cowering from the blast, Sora brought them down with the remaining bullets in his magazine. He reloaded.

A sound entered his ears, and he only just recognized it as something crashing into something else made of metal. A nearby garage door was blown apart and more Fallen appeared. He was too close to get away in time, however. A few blasts caught him as he tried to escape, his shields completely depleting, the burns on his back punishment for not paying enough attention to the motion tracker. Finally, he made it across the room, taking cover behind an identical pillar as the previous one. A furtive glance revealed that there were fewer this time, but that there was a new breed of horror. A taller Fallen was behind the rest, a full helmet on his head and a cape flowing behind him.

"Watch out, that's a captain!"

The Fallen spread out, attempting to cut off any escape Sora could use. The four vandals that entered were using the long rifles, and were already taking aim towards Sora. He dove from cover, running as fast as his feet could carry him. He fired at the nearest vandal, blowing its head open, but he took a blast to the back before he could get back to safety. This process was repeated three more times, until there were only two combatants left: Sora and the captain.

Sora loaded a fresh magazine into his rifle, and was dismayed when he discovered that he only had eighteen rounds left. With no time to gather ammunition, he did the only thing he could think of—he unloaded everything into the captain's head. What he didn't count on was a shield protecting the menace. A glowing, blue aura surrounded the captain when the bullets hit. Blue. Like Arc light.

 _So, either it's extremely strong or extremely weak to Arc attacks. Guess we'll just have to see._

He threw his grenade, newly recharged, at the feet of the enemy. The shield surrounding him burst, and he was staggered. Sora was quick to act. He ran quickly, almost flying across the ground, while prepping his shotgun. Before he could reach the captain, he managed to recover. Sora found the barrel of a new weapon pointed in his direction, and was surprised to see not blue, but red. The captain had a shotgun of his own, and it was not powered by Arc. He dove to the side, evading the first blast of the weapon. He rolled to his feet, and continued towards his enemy. When he was finally close enough, he took aim with his shotgun and fired, the blast of micro-projectiles catching the captain in the chest. Still, it did not fall. Surprised, but not relenting, Sora blasted the captain two more times, and it finally dropped dead.

"Good work," the Ghost commented. "I've finished scanning the wreckage. I'm gonna begin reconstruction. It should only be a moment."

Sora nodded weakly. That was a tough fight, but something told him that it was only going to get more difficult. After all, everything up to this point felt like it was a tutorial. He grinned at the thought.

 _I've always wanted to be in a video game._

Sora looked at the Ghost, who was projecting a wire-frame of the aircraft. As he watched, pieces of the wreckage evaporated, and the wire-frame took on a solid appearance. When all was said and done, the wreckage was gone and a new-looking aircraft hovered in the middle of the room.

"It's done. The only thing missing is a warp generator. We won't be leaving orbit, but it should get us home. I'd recommend getting it looked at fully before leaving the Tower, though."

"Great. How do I get in?"

"Oh. Let me transmat you..."

Sora found himself surrounded by light for a moment, then was suddenly in a cramped cockpit. He looked at all of the instruments, hopelessly lost. This was nothing like a Gummi ship. He had some learning to do.

The Ghost took control of the ship, and took off out of the building's open roof. He set a course for somewhere far away, and let the ship do the rest of the work. Outside, the ball-towers still dotted the landscape. Sora wondered what their purpose was.

"Those are colony ships. Before the Collapse, hundreds of thousands of people gathered here, hoping to start a new life on a new planet. The Traveler gave us many gifts, including prolonged life, but the greatest of them was the advance in technology that accompanied it. Then, the Darkness came."

This piqued Sora's interest. He fought the darkness in every form, so to find it here explained why he had ended up here.

"The Darkness?"

"I'm sure the Speaker can tell you more, so I'll let him explain. I do believe I promised you I'd explain about Guardians, though." When Sora nodded, the Ghost continued, "A very long time ago, humankind only lived to be roughly ninety years old. Everything changed when they discovered the Traveler. Astronomers had detected an anomaly on Mars, the next planet from the Sun."

Sora sat quietly, pondering everything said. It sounded like this story was millenia old. Outside, he noticed that they had entered the upper atmosphere, clouds preventing him from seeing any landmarks.

"Eventually, a crew of explorers were able to travel there, to find that the planet was in the process of terraforming. They also found the Traveler. A great, ball of machinery and light. It had powers nobody had ever seen before. The crew returned to Earth, sharing their discovery. Meanwhile, the Traveler finished terraforming Mars, then turned its attention to Venus and Mercury. After a few decades, it finally visited Earth."

"Why was the Traveler doing these things?" Sora asked.

"Nobody really knows. Some believe it does these things on a whim. Some believe that it had discovered us and began preparing for our expansion. Whatever the reason, its gifts to humanity were amazing. Centuries of peace, exploration, and invention followed. It was called the Golden Age."

The universe seemed to have a sense of humour, as right as the Ghost had said that, the ship burst through a dark grey cloud to find a wall of sun-lit clouds awaiting them.

"However, the Traveler had an enemy: the Darkness. You'll learn more about that from the Speaker, but suffice it to say that the Darkness brought about the Collapse, and most of humanity was wiped out. They were pushed out of the colony worlds, and the remaining people gathered on Earth. When, finally, the Darkness knocked on Earth's door, the Traveler stepped in, stopping its advance, but being damaged heavily in the process. Knowing that it would not be able to protect humanity further, it gave birth to us Ghosts. We Ghosts are tasked with finding people of significant light, all of which were dead already. We had the power to bring them back to life and give them new powers. These people became known as Guardians. They are the only hope for humanity. The Last City has no other defense."

"So, would that make me a Guardian?"

"No, I don't think so. You seem to be a special case, but I don't know what makes you different. That's just another question we should ask the Speaker."

"I see. This Speaker, who is he?"

"Ask him yourself. We're approaching the Tower."

Sora started. They burst through the clouds, and he was astounded by what he saw. A large city surrounded by huge walls sprawled out for miles and miles. On the wall, spaced evenly, were large towers, probably a quarter mile tall, at least.

" _The_ Tower? But there are so many."

"Once, they were all occupied. But the long years went by, and fewer and fewer Guardians , only one tower remains occupied. Only Guardians live there, and you, I guess."

Their trajectory was leading them towards a tower bustling with activity. As the ship flew over it, a transmat placed Sora on an area overlooking the city. He could see the other towers in the distance.

"Head that way."

Sora followed his Ghost's directions, and ended up in a large room with an odd planetarium-like feature. It displayed a holographic image of a sphere, the same sphere that hovered outside the tower, floating above the city like a watchful parent.

The Traveler.

A man wearing all white and black, with a white, near-featureless mask descended the stairs to Sora's left. Another Ghost hovered near him.

"Greetings. I am the Speaker. You must have no end of questions."

* * *

 _That's that. Please review, as I'd like to improve if I continue it. Let me know if you'd like to see more._

 _ **Embrace Chaos**_


	2. Chapter 2: Leaders and Followers

_A/N:_ _No music this time._

 _For the purposes of this story, Sora arrived before the Dark Below happened, so I will be using some terms from vanilla Destiny. However, to maintain consistency, I will also be using some terms from Year 2. The most obvious one that you will notice is that Legendary Marks are used instead of Vanguard/Crucible Marks, even though the items they are used for are vanilla items for now. Yes, I will be delving into the weaponry of Destiny in this fic._

 _I included a tribute to one of my favorite stories in this chapter. Ten points to anyone who spots it and can tell me where it's from._

 _Anyways, enjoy!_

* * *

 _Kingdom Hearts: Crossroads of Destiny_

Chapter 2: Leaders and Followers

Sora watched the man—this fellow calling himself the Speaker—intently. His Ghost had promised him answers from the masked man. However, so far the Speaker hadn't answered much. Instead, he was staring—though it was hard to tell behind that mask of his—as if he could see into Sora's very heart. What he sought was unknown to Sora, who sat quietly, apprehension building within him. Why couldn't this enigmatic figure just answer his questions? All Sora knew was what Ghost had told him. So, he had to rely on this "Speaker." Though, for someone called the "Speaker," he didn't speak very much.

Minutes passed.

"You are strong, for one so young."

Sora jumped at the sudden voice. Had the man finally broken his silence?

"You have more Light than any Guardian I've seen in my centuries of life. Though, there is something...different about it. It is almost as if it stems from a different source. I do not think you will be able to use it effectively here until you are more attuned to _our_ Light."

 _About time._

"That's probably because I'm not from here."

"Impossible. The Darkness has surrounded us so thoroughly, nothing can get through."

"Darkness this, Darkness that. Why does everyone in this place speak so vaguely?" Sora muttered. He redirected his attention to the Speaker. "Well, I got through. I don't know how, but I was flying along and was sucked through a warp hole. I'm probably not even in my own universe anymore. Nothing here is the same as it is back home."

Silence greeted his words—silence that lasted for quite some time. Finally, the Speaker spoke again. "I hear truth in your words. How you came to be here isn't important. What matters is that you are. Though, if what you say is true, it would explain the differences in our Light."

Sora nodded his head. That made more sense than anything else so far. Maybe different universes _did_ have different fundamental energies.

"Anyhow, you are here. And you must have questions. Ask away, and I will answer."

"Finally. At this point, my only question is this: what is the Darkness?"

"The Darkness is many things. It is a force that pushes against the Light. It is an energy that fuels our enemies. It is an entity who seeks to destroy anything the Light touches. Most of all, however, it is the greatest threat that humanity has ever faced."

"That is still rather vague. Can you be any more clear on that?"

The Speaker sighed. "The Darkness is hard to define. Even I, who have been studying the Light and Darkness for centuries, still have no idea what it is capable of. Some believe that it is a concrete phenomenon, one that exists in our reality and has a consciousness. Other believe that it is an energy—the antithesis of Light, equally powerful and used by our enemies. There are yet others that believe that both Light and Darkness are simply ideas, and that those who fight for each side actually draw from the same energy, their intent being the only difference."

"All agree that it is our enemy, and that it must be stopped."

Sora took all of this in. Assuming the Speaker was right in what he said, this Darkness could be the force preventing him from using his Keyblade. His own Light was strong, yet he felt weaker here than at home—almost as weak as he was when he arrived in Traverse Town. He needed to attune himself to this new Light, as the Speaker suggested. Maybe then he'd be able to use his signature weapon. To do so, he'd have to fight the Darkness. He grinned ruefully.

 _Guess my path is set here._

"Alright, I guess that's enough. I'll help you out. Just point me in the right direction."

"You must go see the Vanguard. But first, explore the Tower. You will most likely be staying here for a while. There is much to see, and there are services that you may find useful."

"Will do. Thanks for you help."

With that, Sora left the Speaker's chamber. Immediately, he found himself in a semi-circular, open-air landing. There was a large door across from him, closed currently. To his left, he saw the edge of the Tower, the sky clearly visible. Turning his gaze to the right, he saw the stairs that led him here in a wide hallway. A darkened alcove was on the left of the hallway, furnished with cloth of varying colours. On the right was a lounge-like area, where a man stood wearing red and white clothing, the same colours decorating a tall banner behind him. The banner was red, and had a white triangle with three red, diagonal strokes near the bottom-right corner of it.

Sora ventured down the hall, ascending the first set of stairs and turning right at the top. He continued up another two sets of stairs before returning to the main plaza of the Tower. Above him was a metal, scaffold-like balcony, stretching to his right, outwards over the city. The main plaza had a handful of points of interest. Immediately in front of him as he entered was a vaguely triangular building. There were three doors on it, two of which were open. In one was a blue-skinned woman, and a robot was in the other. Sora approached the woman.

"Welcome to special requisitions," she greeted him while reading from a ledger. "What can I get for you?"

"Special requisitions?"

"Oh. You're the new guy. Yes, special requisitions. Anything that can't be obtained from another vendor here will be routed through me. My name is Tess Everis."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Sora."

He remained at the kiosk for a short time, exchanging polite conversation with the woman, who he learned was an Awoken, a race of semi-humans that were born during the Collapse. Apparently, when the Traveler was damaged, the boundary between its Light and the Darkness transformed those near it. Any humans became Awoken, tied to the Darkness as well as the Light. Some returned to Earth, but most stayed away, choosing to establish their own community in the asteroid belt known as the Reef.

Sora left the stall, deciding not to visit the other one noticing that it was marked as the postmaster on the map Tess had given him. Instead, he walked across the plaza, between three spires dubbed "vaults." On the other side was a small stall with another Awoken—this one a man. The map called this person the Cryptarch. There was a gathering of people around him, all wanting to use his services it seemed.

 _Seems busy. I guess I'll come back later._

Sora moved on, turning left from there and ascending a small set of stairs. He passed a tree— _A tree in the Tower?—_ and found a man in an alcove, weapons surrounding him. When he was closer, he saw that the man wasn't human, and also wasn't awoken. He was a robot—not a robot like the maintenance droids the he'd seen around, but a very human-like, advanced robot. His chassis was blue, with yellow-accents. There were metal spikes sprouting from his head, and his eyes were glowing a pale blue colour. Sora checked his map again. This man was Banshee-44, the Tower's gunsmith. Apparently, there were robots now.

"So, you're the gunsmith?"

"That's right," Banshee replied. His voice was gravelly underneath the metallic ring. "The Speaker messaged me saying you may be coming by. Sora, right? Here, take these."

Banshee pulled some items out of nowhere. They were white, semi-transparent dodecahedrons. Sora made to grab them, but they evaporated on contact, just like the ammunition blocks. He figured his Ghost knew what they were, so he'd ask later. Even after receiving all of the items, Sora remained, questions plaguing him. The gunsmith apparently noticed this.

"It's my appearance, isn't it? I'm what's called an Exo. Our true origins are unknown, lost in history thanks to the Collapse. We are fully sentient machines. You'll find quite a few of us around. Now, if you don't mind, I'll get back to work."

Sora gave him an affirmative grunt before leaving.

 _Exos, Awoken, and Humans, all chosen to be Guardians by the Ghosts. What have I gotten myself into?_

* * *

Sora continued his exploration of the Tower. In the south wing, he found the Hangar and all who dwelt there. He met a woman named Amanda Holliday, who was the Tower's shipwright. Sora's ship had made its way to the hangar after dropping him off, and Amanda had fixed it up for him. It was still missing a warp drive, so he would have to scavenge one himself. Sora had thanked her for her work, and she had given him the blueprints for a land vehicle called a Sparrow. He had no idea what it even looked like, but he was excited to try it out when he got the chance. He finally ended his conversation with her and went to meet the rest of the denizens.

Standing against the wall opposite Amanda was an Awoken man with shoulder-length, straight, black hair, wearing mostly white clothing, but with black accents. He reminded Sora of the man near the Speaker. Instead of the red banner, this man had a grey banner, and the logo was of a circular design, with black, white, and grey colouring. In the center of the design was a symbol that looked like a thickly, stroked and curvy seven, with three vertical lines below it. In the top-right quadrant of the circle was a smaller circle, giving the appearance of an orbiting planetary body. The man also had this symbol on a cross-body shoulder strap. Intrigued, Sora approached him.

"Ahh, I'd heard rumours of a new arrival. Are you interested in learning about Dead Orbit?"

"Dead Orbit?"

"Yes. Dead Orbit is an organization of Guardians and engineers. We know that fighting the Darkness is futile, and we are attempting to gather the materials needed to construct a fleet for the purpose of escaping. I am the representative of Dead Orbit, Arach Jalaal. The Vanguard has allowed me to be here, along with representatives of New Monarchy and Future War Cult, because we have much to offer the Tower. We are also allowed a seat on the ruling council."

"So, you want to run away?"

"Our future is not here. Our future is out among the stars. Only when we are safe from the encroaching Darkness can we gather our strength to fight it once again. We are not running away, we are advancing towards future victory."

"I guess I can see your point. The Light seems to be barely holding on right now, but we mustn't give up hope. Tell me, where are the other representatives?"

"You'll find Lakshmi-2 of Future War Cult up those stairs there. She has an office of sorts up there, overlooking the hangar. As for New Monarchy's representative, Executor Hideo, well, he was granted the privilege of residing near the Speaker."

"The red and white guy?"

"That would be him."

"Thank you. Good luck on your fleet."

Sora left him, deciding to visit the other representatives before he went to the Vanguard. While he wasn't big on politics, he felt that he should at least hear them out, since they helped make decisions around here, and supplied the Vanguard in various ways. He felt that he would probably get the same idea from them—that feeling of partial-agreement. None of them were completely wrong in their ideas, but they felt that there was only one way to survive.

Sora descended some stairs, finding a lounge. The walls were decorated with items, seeming to be trophies of a sort. There were a couple of people here, but they seemed to be focused on their own tasks. Instead, Sora turned around and left. He returned to the main floor and continued upwards, seeking the Future War Cult representative. He found her where Jalaal had said: in an office of sorts overlooking the hangar. She was an exo, her chassis red and white. She wore vibrant clothing of many colours. Her main article was violet, but she wore a yellow and white shawl over it, and completed the look with a red scarf and broad, white belt. The banner indicating her allegiance was coloured similarly, and the logo was simply the letters: FWC.

 _Colourful..._

"Would you be Lakshmi-2, representative of the Future War Cult?"

"I am. I saw you talking with the Arach. I take it you haven't decided to join him, and would like to know more about us. Am I correct?"

"Y-yes," Sora replied hesitantly.

"Whereas Dead Orbit believes that we cannot be victorious here, our Cult believes that war is unavoidable. We should not waste resources trying to escape as they want, or time setting up a different government as New Monarchy wishes. Instead, we should invest everything into creating a fighting force the likes of which haven't been seen in this world. Only through sheer, insurmountable force can the Darkness be defeated. Already, it gathers to assault us. Its minions are numerous and strong. We must be stronger."

"But, what about the civilians in the City. They aren't strong enough to fight these enemies. Shouldn't they be evacuated?"

"If we are not strong enough to defeat the Darkness, they will be lost anyway. They will be safer behind those who _can_ fight. This is the only way we can survive."

Sora was astounded by her conviction. These representatives believed in their causes so completely, it was impressive. Still, he didn't fully agree with her either. He thanked her for her time and left the way he came. He would have to meet the New Monarchy representative to learn the whole story. Still, there was one more place he had to visit before that.

The only place in the hangar Sora hadn't visited was a stall run by a droid. His map called him the Vanguard Quartermaster. Sora approached it.

"Hello, Guardian. How may I serve you today?"

"I'm not a Guardian."

"Accessing files. Identity confirmed as non-Guardian. Please visit the Vanguard to obtain access to our equipment. Have a good day."

 _That was blunt. Guess these robots aren't as advanced as the Exos._

"Those droids are called Frames," his Ghost suddenly said. "They aren't fully sentient, but they develop quirks that can be called their personality. They're mostly used for maintenance, but some run various operations."

"You haven't spoken up in a while. What have you been doing?"

"I was getting acquainted with your Light. If you want to get stronger, not only do you have to attune to _our_ Light, but I have to attune to yours. I think I'm almost there, but this is probably as close as I'll get until you attune on your end."

"Ahh, makes sense. Well, I'll get there. Still have a tower to explore, you know?"

"Carry on, then. I'm free to answer questions again, if you have any."

"Thanks."

Sora left the hangar, returning to the main plaza. He didn't stay long; instead, he crossed and returned to the north wing to visit Executor Hideo. Approaching the red and white decorations, he caught the man's eyes.

"Returned already? I guess you're here to learn about New Monarchy, aren't you?"

Executor Hideo was a dark-skinned human. His red and white clothing consisted of a red cowl with gold trim upon his head, red garments covering his torso and legs, and a white scarf and sash from shoulder to opposite hip.

"Yes. I've already visited Lakshmi and Jalaal, so I'd like to hear about your group as well."

"To put it bluntly, New Monarchy desires a monarchy. While the Vanguard and the council does a fair job running things, we need a stronger leadership to win against the Darkness. As it is, we take too much time deciding rather than acting. A strong king or queen is necessary. It may take some time to put the system in place, but in the end we will save time as a whole."

"Aren't you afraid that the leader would end up as a tyrant? Or that they aren't suited for the job?"

"We take this very seriously. Our candidates for the monarchy are selected out of the best leaders we have now. If Zavala would allow it, we'd put in on a throne."

"I see. Guess that's about it, then. Thanks."

"You are welcome. Please consider joining us."

"I'll think about it."

Sora left the last of the representatives, finally complete with his self-enforced task of visiting all of them. Their ideas were sound, even if they were based in absolutes. They did not acknowledge the grey area that would allow them to work together. Sora returned to the main plaza, deciding that now was the time to finally visit the Vanguard. He walked down a large set of stairs set in the middle of the plaza, and went around a dividing wall, and found himself looking at the largest man he'd ever seen. The Guardian was easily over eight feet tall, and carried himself with the practiced discipline of one who had seen many battles. Already, Sora was intimidated. He knew, without a doubt, that he never wanted to face this man in combat. Sora would be destroyed.

Cautiously—almost nervously—Sora approached the man. He seemed important enough that Sora felt that he should be introduced. He found himself craning his neck to look him in the...mask. Here was another mask wearer. As if he wasn't already intimidating enough.

"Hel-" he started. _Well, that won't do._ He cleared his throat, and began again. "Hello. I am Sora, a new arrival. I was wondering who you are, and what you do around here."

"Greetings, Sora," the man boomed. Even his voice was intimidating. "The Speaker's told me a bit about you. I'm afraid you won't be able to utilize my services, since your abilities are unknown. Our training exercises must be fair, after all. We can't have unknown variables in the Crucible."

"What is the Crucible?"

The man laughed. "I am the Crucible. My name is Shaxx, and I am the head of the Crucible. In the Crucible, we pit Guardians against each other in live-fire exercises. Our Ghosts ensure that we are not in any mortal peril. However, the stress of combat is ever-present, as is the pain. The nature of the game is that it must be fair, so an unknown such as yourself will not be allowed. Stick around, though, and you may get the chance."

"So, Guardians fight each other, and Ghosts revive them. Interesting. Are Guardians immortal?"

The man sighed, then went quiet. If Sora could see his face, he'd see a face lost in memories of a battle long past. Finally, he said, "Immortal in the sense that we don't age. We aren't immune to death, however. When we die in combat or otherwise, our Ghosts deconstruct our bodies and gather the particles. After a short time, we can be reconstructed. In certain situations, we are unable to do so without the assistance of another Guardian's Light, or are completely unable no matter what, until the source of Darkness preventing revival is dealt with. While we are waiting for revival, our Ghosts are vulnerable. They have to stay phased into our reality to hold our particles. If enough firepower is focused on them, they will be destroyed and we will be dead permanently."

"I was in a battle, long ago. The Battle of Twilight Gap saw the permanent death of many Guardians, many of them my friends. The Fallen took many lives that day, but they paid for each dearly." Shaxx trailed off, obviously lost in his memories of that battle. "Anyways, you are probably not here to see me. Go through there, and you will meet the Vanguard. My close friend Zavala is the head."

Sora moved on, following the directions Shaxx had given him. A short jaunt through a large doorway, and he found himself in a long room. The far wall was entirely glass, granting an imposing view of the skies around the city. The ceiling beams sloped gracefully from a curved point at the center, dropping closer to the ground near the walls. The floor mirrored them. The center of the room was sunken in by about five feet, stairs connecting the two levels on the near and far ends. The end result was a shell-like shape. In the middle of the room was a long table. Standing around this table were three people: a large, awoken man, a dark-skinned human woman, and a cloak-wearing exo male.

These were the leaders of the Vanguard.

Currently, they were involved in an intense debate. The exo was flippantly countering something the awoken had said. The human observed, merely making comments, but mostly siding with the awoken. There seemed to be a bit of friction between these leaders.

"Cayde, you know that we can't do that," said the human. "The Darkness is too strong for a single Guardian in that place."

"Nonsense. Send in a hunter, and the problem will be taken care of in a flash."

"Ikora is right, Cayde. We cannot risk a single life, when a strike would make more sense. Three Guardians, watching each others' backs, can deal with the problem."

"We don't have the numbers for that, Zavala. You know that as well as I do. This Valus Ta'aruc is small fry compared to what I faced before I took the Dare. If I could get back out there..."

"You know you can't do that. The Vanguard needs you here, training new hunters."

"Then at least let me send one of my greatest success stories to scout the area. Probe their defenses. It'll make the work easier afterwards."

The awoken finally made a concession to the exo, letting him modify whatever the plan was. There was a grudging respect there. Obviously, the awoken was more soldier-like, and the exo was a lone-wolf who didn't like following the rules. Though they argued, and their approaches were vastly different, they understood each other's strengths.

Now that their debate was over, they could focus their attention on Sora. They stared at him, sizing him up, and remaining silent. Finally, the woman, Ikora, spoke up.

"You are certainly different. The Speaker was correct. I haven't seen Light like yours before."

"Er, I guess he was..."

"Don't be nervous, we won't bite," said the exo, Cayde. "We're the leaders of the Vanguard, though Zavala over there is the general of us all."

"Zavala. Executor Hideo mentioned you, saying that he'd like to put you on a throne."

"Yes..." Zavala droned. "He has been trying to make me a king for a long while now. I am not a king. I am a soldier; at most, I am a general, which is where I find myself now."

"You must understand. We are not leaders by choice, but by necessity. We were some of the strongest of our classes: hunters, titans, and warlocks."

"Especially me," said Cayde. "I wish I could get out of here..."

"Enough, Cayde."

"Fine, fine. Anyways, the name's Cayde-6. I am the hunter Vanguard. You seem rather hunter-like. I may be able to give you some tips."

"And I am Ikora Rey, the warlock Vanguard. I study the nature of the Light and Darkness. I may be able to help you attune more quickly."

"Zavala, leader of the Vanguard, and the titan Vanguard. I've heard of what you went through when you arrived in the Cosmodrome. You seem to have combat experience. I can help you fine-tune your skills to help you survive out there."

"Uh, wow. Seems like where ever I turn, I run into important people. So, you are all the strongest of your orders?"

"Not necessarily," countered Ikora Rey. "While we were definitely very strong in our orders, the more important aspect was our ability to lead and teach. We are simply the most suited to be in the Vanguard."

"Or, we were tricked. My predecessor dared me to take on a very difficult task. My hunter pride wouldn't let me say no. That's tradition among us hunters. When the hunter Vanguard sees a promising replacement, he makes the Dare. If they succeed, they replace him. Hence why I'm here instead of in the field."

"You knew what it was when you accepted, Cayde," admonished Zavala.

"Yeah, but, hunter pride."

Zavala and Ikora shook their heads in frustration at this. Zavala then turned his attention back to Sora.

"The shipwright tells me that your ship is in working order minus one crucial component. Until you get a warp drive, you won't be able to help us to your fullest extent. Return to the Cosmodrome. Search wrecked ships until you find one. Keep your eyes open and your ears sharp. The Fallen's hold on that place may have weakened, but they are still a force to be reckoned with."

"We'll be watching, new guy. You know, analyzing your technique, looking for gaps in your skills, criticizing your fashion sense. The usual stuff. When you return, we'll begin your training."

"Before you go, come talk to me," ordered Ikora. "I need to examine your Light more closely, so when you return I can help you more."

"Rest up," advised Zavala. "If you have anything you need to do, do it now. You will leave soon."

Sora gave an affirmative salute to the Vanguard leaders. Finally, he had met everyone worth meeting in the Tower. Actually, now that he had talked to the Vanguard, he may be able to access the Quartermaster's stock. Smiling to himself, he made his way over to the hangar to re-visit the rude robot.

* * *

"Accessing files. Identity confirmed. You now have access to my wares."

 _Awesome._

Sora examined the items that the Vanguard Quartermaster had to offer. They were all guns. Advanced guns, by the look of them. There were a couple of assault rifles, some other rifles of a different type, and a...revolver?

 _What is a revolver doing in a place like this? Where are the lasers?_

In addition to the small arms, there were some special weapons. He noticed a shotgun, obviously much higher of quality than the one he had. There was also a sniper rifle, which he decided that he needed, as well as a weapon that was completely unknown to him.

"What is this?" he asked his Ghost.

"That is a fusion rifle. When fired, it briefly charges up, utilizing the power of a small, contained fusion reaction to elementally charge some particles before ejecting them in a burst of energy. They are fairly strong; safer to use than a shotgun since you don't have to be up close, but not requiring the precision necessary to use a sniper rifle. Up close, shotguns are stronger, and sniper rifles are the strongest but require more skill to use. Still, it's a good middle ground for mid-range combat."

"So, it's kind of like a laser gun."

"Not really, but it does resemble one when it fires."

"Are there any lasers in this world?"

"None that we use in combat. There may have been some during the Golden Age, but we lost the technology in the Collapse. Fusion rifles are a step towards them, however. We have been working very hard to recover our lost weaponry."

Sora nodded absent-mindedly. He returned his attention to the wares in front of him. In addition to the items he'd already examined, he found both a rocket launcher and a machine gun. He assumed, correctly, that these were considered heavy weapons, and would use the purple ammo blocks that Ghost had mentioned. He determined that he should obtain one, and quickly chose the machine gun.

"I'd like this machine gun."

"THE SWARM. Price: one hundred and fifty legendary marks."

"Er, what?"

"The Quartermaster sells items for legendary marks. You'll obtain those for doing work for the Vanguard or by dismantling high quality equipment. For now, you'll have to stick with lower quality weapons. The Gunsmith gave you a few weapons, if you'd like to look at those. We can return here later."

"Oh," he responded dejectedly. "Alright. Let's get out of the way before that though."

Sora left the Quartermaster's booth, searching for an out-of-the-way location to examine the weapons. Near the entrance of the hangar, a short hallway led to a dead end.

 _That'll work._

One by one, Ghost brought out the weapons that the Gunsmith had given him. First, he held a revolver.

"This is a hand cannon. Very powerful, but require steady aim and a calm disposition to use effectively. This one is a Duke Mk. 10. The Duke series is very reliable."

The weapon dematerialized from his hands, and then a much larger weapon appeared in its place. This one was a sniper rifle.

"A sniper rifle. You should know how it works. Apparently the Gunsmith thinks that you are a precise person. Anyways, this is a Hieracon-LR2. It's a good starting weapon. You have five rounds in the magazine, and can make follow-up shots quickly without sacrificing power. So, it's fairly forgiving."

The sniper rifle vanished like the hand cannon before it. Now, a long, heavy weapon rested in his hands. He felt the power behind it, and shuddered in anticipation.

"Now this is a machine gun, as you probably guessed. This one is low power, but has a lot of bullets and low recoil. The Sargon-B. You should be able to hold it on target even with continuous fire, and any missed shots aren't as important as they would be with a more powerful weapon."

The weapon once again vanished. Sora couldn't wait to try out his new equipment in the field. So, anxious to begin, he returned to the Vanguard. He remembered that he had to talk to Ikora before leaving, so he approached her first.

"Ah, good. You're back. Follow me."

She led him to a private corner of the room and ordered him to sit on the floor. They took up a meditation pose: legs crossed, hand on their knees.

"We are going to meditate. Follow my instructions, and this should go quickly enough. First, we are going to breathe. Watch and listen to me first, then attempt to imitate."

Ikora emptied her lungs, then inhaled slowly. She held her breath for the same amount of time that it took to inhale, before finally exhaling for the same amount of time.

"We inhale to a count of seven, hold it to a count of seven, then exhale to a count of seven. Repeat this again and again, then we'll move on."

Sora began following her instruction, emptying his lungs. She began counting softly as he inhaled. At the count of seven, he stopped inhaling and instead held his breath. He finally let his breath out, exhaling slowly. He continued to follow her instructions, losing himself in the action, not noticing that Ikora had stopped counting. He didn't even jump when she finally talked again.

"Now, I want you to find the source of your Light within yourself. Dive into it."

Sora nodded then closed his eyes. This was easy for him. He did this every time he had to summon his Keyblade or use magic. He found his center, relishing the warmth that spread over him as he surrounded himself with his Light.

To any observers, he began glowing. His Light was radiating from him. Ikora observed him calmly, studying the energy that seem to pulse from him in waves. She also began meditating, dropping into her center. She also began glowing. The lights that radiated from them met in the center, swirling around each other, but not merging or combining. In fact, where the energies met, they seemed to boil.

Ikora opened her eyes, once again studying the Light. She frowned. The differences between the the different Light were fundamental in nature. Her Light made up her being, filled her. His Light was a pool of energy, something that could be tapped, but not something that was inherently creative. If he couldn't learn to use his Light in a similar manner, attuning to the Traveler's Light would be impossible.

"Now, I want you to draw your Light in. Imagine something small, and put yourself into it. Become the object. Something familiar would work best."

Sora thought for a second before he considered the obvious: his crown necklace. He pictured it in his mind. Slowly, he imagined himself shrinking, changing shape. As he did so, he brought his Light with him. When he was fully contained within the crown, he realized that his Light felt stronger, as if it was more concentrated. To viewers, his aura of Light nearly vanished. Instead, he had a much smaller glow that was mostly contained within his skin. His spiky hair began moving, as if a breeze blew it around.

"Well done. Focus on trying to create something now. You have already done this by creating a grenade, I'm told. However, that was done using the small amount of our Light that you are able to use. I want you to use your own now, and instead of a grenade, I want you to simply gather the Light in an orb."

Sora concentrated on his task. It was difficult to use his own Light to do this. His instinct was to make his grenade, but that wasn't what he _needed_ to do. He once again lost himself in his Light, compressing it into his pendant. He imagined siphoning a small amount off and shaping it with his hands. He drew it out and rolled it like a snowball. In reality, a wavering, shapeless blob of Light appeared before him. As he continued shaping it, the Light steadied, releasing a steady glow, and becoming more solid. An orb formed from the blob. It remained hovering there when he opened his eyes. He turned his gaze from the orb to Ikora. She smiled in affirmation.

"You did well. Your Light does not normally form in the real world. Is anyone capable of using Light like this in your universe?"

"My mentor and friend can do this," he replied, remembering Mickey's Pearl attack, "but he has been practicing for many years."

"This was the main difference between our Lights. By creating something of pure Light, using your source, you have started reconciling the differences. You should be able to attune much more quickly, now. You will probably catch up to our top Guardians in just a couple of days."

"Thank you, Ikora. I don't know what I would have done without you.

She smiled. "You would probably have taken months to obtain full power. My guess is that we don't have that much time. One of our Guardians is on the verge of reaching a large concentration of Darkness. We don't have any Guardians to spare for this mission, so we are hoping that you will help him. He may need it."

"Of course. I probably need a warp drive first, though."

"Absolutely. You won't reach Mars without it. Though, you should probably visit the Moon and Venus first." She turned to face the rest of the Vanguard. "He's all your, Zavala."

"Great. Alright, Sora. You need to get back to the Cosmodrome. Find a warp drive. While you're there, we have a few tasks for you as a form of training. I'll give you more information when you get there."

"Yes sir."

Sora left the Vanguard room. When he returned to the plaza, he was surprised to find that many hours had passed while he had been meditating. Surprisingly, he didn't feel tired. In fact, he hadn't felt anything more than physical exhaustion since he'd arrived here.

 _Do I not need sleep?_

He shrugged, chalking it up to one of the perks of being a semi-Guardian. He could get used to this, even if he did really enjoy sleeping. And eating; he wasn't hungry either. Hopefully, it wouldn't last once he left this world. He shook his head to clear his mind. He had a job to do.

"So, how do I get out of here?"

"I'll start up the transmat," Ghost replied. Sora only had a moment before he dissolved and was placed in the cockpit of his ship.

"This is hangar control," came the voice of Amanda Holiday. "Come in, Guardian."

"This is Sora, requesting permission to leave the hangar."

"Hey Sora. One moment, we're clearing the launch bay."

Sora waited, and it was indeed only a moment. He found his ship taxiing from its position to a marked area of the floor. When it arrived, the floor began ascending. When the darkness of the elevator was gone, he found himself back on the hangar floor.

"Sora, you are cleared for take-off. Have a nice flight."

"Affirmative, hangar control. Thanks."

His Ghost primed the engines, then blasted out of the hangar, ascending to the edges of the atmosphere quickly.

"You'll have to teach me how to fly this thing. I have piloting experience from my universe, but I am not familiar with these controls."

"Well, let's get started, since we're clear from obstruction. I'll teach you on the way."

"Sounds good to me."

* * *

"I'm telling you, this was his last known location," said a masculine voice from a loudspeaker.

"And I'm asking you: how do you know?" argued the auburn-haired princess. "There are no signs, and he left no clues or transmissions."

"His tracking data shows that he was here. And he told us he was going to explore this area. Maybe he went through the warp hole there."

"Riku, Kairi's right," said another female, this one blonde. "We have no way to confirm that he was here."

"Actually, I'm with Riku on this one," said the last member of the crew. Heads turned to stare at him. "Don't get me wrong. It pains me to admit it, but this has to be where he last was. I can almost feel it. His Light is so strong, he left quite an impression."

"Wow, Roxas. I didn't think you'd ever agree with Riku on anything."

"I may not like him, Naminé, but that doesn't mean that he's not right on occasion."

The group of teenagers was flying through space in a gummi ship. Riku was piloting it, so was not present in the crew quarters with the rest, consisting of Kairi, Naminé, and Roxas. The two blondes stood close together. They were a couple, and were adorable at that. Kairi, the redhead, stood apart, wishing that Sora were here. They weren't a couple, but Kairi secretly liked him, and knew that he liked her back. She just had to wait for him to confess, that's all. It was just taking him a long time to do so.

"So, are we in agreement? Do we go through the warp hole?"

"How are we in agreement. It's two and two. How should we decide?"

"We could flip a coin," suggested Naminé. "It's probably the fairest way."

"Fine. Heads: we go. Tails: we continue searching."

"I'll flip," said Roxas. He dug a coin out of his pocket. It was an arcade token, actually. He placed it on top of his clenched fist, just over his tensed thumb. He relaxed his index finger slightly and his thump jumped out of his hold. It struck the coin, sending it through the air, flipping end over end. He let it fall to the floor.

The three teens present looked at it. Roxas grinned.

"What is it, I can't see it from the cockpit."

"Riku, we're going in."

"Alright. Everyone, put on your armor. Who knows what we may find on the other side. We could have to react at a moment's notice."

The teens followed his instruction. He technically outranked them, since he was a Keyblade Master. They had to listen to him. He didn't press them, usually. Though, he did insist when he had to.

Three flashes of light filled the room and the teens stood, clad in their armor. They and Sora had received it once Naminé and Roxas had been rescued from their existence as Nobodies. They gained their own hearts, and Naminé had gained the ability to use a Keyblade.

Sora had ventured off on his own, since he was almost a Master and didn't need the instruction of one. Roxas could have done the same thing, but he did not want to leave Naminé. With a full Master and a near-Master there, Kairi and Naminé knew that they would learn a lot. They were already well on their way to becoming accomplished wielders.

Their ship accelerated suddenly.

"What just happened?" all three shouted.

"We're being pulled in to the warp hole. I can't escape it. Brace yourselves, it could get rough."

Each of them grabbed the nearest solid piece of the ship. Sora hadn't had a gummi ship when he'd gone through—if he even had—and so he would have been helpless.

"Here we come, Sora. We'll be there soon."

* * *

 _Second chapter. More writing than I've ever done in a single story. Hope you enjoyed reading it more than I enjoyed writing it. Seriously, writing exposition in an interesting way is difficult._

 _So, we're going to have the standard group of Keybladers soon. That is five. Almost enough for a raid. Add in an OC and we're set. Who's looking forward to fighting the Templar and Atheon?_


End file.
